'Dead' Woman Returns Home Four Days After Her Own Cremation

A family over in India received the shock of their lives when their missing daughter returned home - four days after her own funeral.

Yes, 26-year-old Naina Rani showed up to her family home in Patiala despite her relatives presuming she was dead and performing her 'last rites' just several days previous.

While they're overcome with relief, now local police are trying to figure out whose remains were cremated.

The Times of India reports that the young woman went missing on 8 December. The mutilated remains of a woman were discovered by a local farmer on 11 December and soon after the parents claimed it was Naina's body, which they later cremated on the fifteenth of this month.

At the time, the police suspected that Naina had been killed by a man with whom she'd run away with, as he was also missing from his home.

However, this theory came crashing down when she and her male friend returned on Thursday. Now the cops are stumped as to who the cremated body belongs to.

The question is, how did the family mistake the remains for their relative? Well, police representative Jaswinder Singh Tiwana told local daily Hindustan Times: "When the cops questioned Naina's parents in Patiala, they claimed that since the face of the dead woman was mutilated, they identified the body on the basis of her bangles and other jewellery.

"Even Naina's husband was accompanying them at that time."

Although this complex murder mystery is now even more mysterious due to the unusual circumstances, police are confident they can identify the dead woman who was discovered earlier this month.

Jaswinder added: "We will now identify the dead woman from her DNA and fingerprint samples. We had gathered samples of her hair and teeth during autopsy.

"We have circulated the dead body's photograph with details of identification marks to all police stations in the state so that she can be identified. Moreover, we are gathering data about the women who had gone missing in the state recently."

Good luck to the police on their quest to solve this bizarre case. Meanwhile, there's no doubt the Rani family must be overcome with joy to have their girl back safe at home.